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Monday, September 17, 2012

Start Printing Lino

I've been looking forward to printing the first exercise for my linocutting course. My burst of enthusiasm for making display props for my market stall got in the way. There was no way I was going to try to set up a space for printing on a surface awash with sawdust interspersed with various bits of wood and glue! This morning I managed to clear the space and get set up. Over the past few weeks I've been progressively acquiring all the materials and equipment I need to print. Tracking down a dense foam roller as recommended by my teacher was the biggest challenge. I finally bought one from an art shop in Fitzroy. Unfortunately this morning it was nowhere to be found. Searching for it did result in a tidier living space, but still the roller eluded capture. I also found a lino block which I'd cut last year and never got around to printing. I decided to go with the soft brayer recommended for printing on paper and the not-dense-enough-foam roller which I'd purchased earler in my hunt for tools.

I can see how the different roller would be more effective in distributing the ink onto the lino, but the tools I used did get me a half-decent print.

My main purpose in printing this first block was to make sure there wasn't a fundamental flaw in my cutting before I embark on the second exercise. That mission is accomplished now. I was also quite interested in the effects of over-printing.

Oh, OK, then . . . in my enthusiasm I neglected to dash out to the studio and pick up some more fabric. To tell the truth I became interested after I realised I didn't have enough fabric. But it sounds better to say I was interested in over-printing!

One more piece of learning. It was OK working on the half of my dining table which I'd managed to clear, but a whole table would have been even better. Now there's a challenge for me. ﻿